


Talents of All Shapes and Sizes

by straydog733



Category: Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-30
Updated: 2015-07-30
Packaged: 2018-04-12 01:07:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4459448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/straydog733/pseuds/straydog733
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hilbert considers his goals, his place in the cosmos, and slightly more trivial distractions. Spoilers up through Episode 18.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Talents of All Shapes and Sizes

He stared out the window of his lab at the star. It made his eyes ache and burn, looking deep into the flares and eddies of flame, but it was important. He needed the reminder every now and then, when he was busy at his work. He needed the reminder of how big the universe was, and how very small he and everyone else on this station were.

When compared to the incredible magnitude of Wolf 359, to the star system it existed in, to the infinite universe that it was but a small part of, anything he did could be overlooked. Perhaps even forgiven. In the grand scheme of existence, the taking of a few human lives was laughably insignificant. It was a soothing thought.

The lives he could save through his work were also insignificant. A less soothing thought. But the blip that that would cause was slightly bigger, so it balanced well. He blinked and cleared his eyes, looked back down at his current experiment. These were the things that would make him an important part of the universe. Not tiny considerations like the lives of mundane men and women.

Or talent shows. Those messes were just trappings that Command put in place to keep his human lab rats from going mad. He didn’t need them; he had his work to keep him sane. But as there was no way to explain that to the Commander, he supposed he would have to bear the task.

He could hear her out in the hallway, rambling into a communicator about preparations and proper lighting for her performance. He closed some of the sensitive documents on his computer and turned to his “official” work.

The spider was twitching from the latest serum injection when she knocked on his door.

“Enter.”

Commander Lovelace’s face appeared in his doorway, grinning and full of levity. “Come on, Dr. Selberg, time’s a wasting. Lambert claimed first slot so he can get it over with, and I wouldn’t put it past him to start before I get there.”

He sighed and grabbed the book of Russian poetry floating by his work station. If he was going to be forced to do this just to keep up with the charade, he would at least take a moment to speak his mother tongue. And gain some petty satisfaction from putting on a performance that no one else could understand. “I am coming, Commander. Just finishing vital work on most recent generation of arachnid specimens. Vital breakthrough in genetic mapping is just around the corner.”

She put on an exaggerated shudder and slapped him on the shoulder. “None of that tonight, Selberg. We’re going to all sit back and enjoy our first talent show. Lambert’s doing his Shakespeare monologue, I think Fisher and Rhea are doing some sort of musical beep duet, and I will be showing off my famed stand-up talents.” She shot him a grin as they made their way through the hallways. Like they were sharing a joke. Like they were friends. “Watch out, or I’ll make it an act of treason not to laugh.”

“And Fourier and Hui?” Perhaps his fellow scientists had found some way to preserve their dignity through this spectacle.

“Oh, that has got to be my favorite one. They are going to be juggling.”

“…Not a very difficult task in zero gravity.”

“You’d think, but I saw them practicing earlier, and it seems to be a lot of chucking rubber balls at each other at top speed. Trust the physicists to come up with something cool.” She laughed. “I know we only have to do these every hundred days, but if this one goes well, we could make it a more regular thing. Monthly, maybe? That sounds like fun, right?”

“It would be a rather large disruption from our work, Commander,” he said, trying to keep some of the sulk out of his voice. “My projects do require nearly all of my time.”

“Hey, you have to get out of the lab and live a little every now and then. And it’s not like we’re short on time up here.”

She continued her inane chatter, but he was already tuning out her voice. She was such a small person, trying to make her life seem big and full. They were all so very small. Their talent show didn’t matter, their mission didn’t matter and they didn’t matter. Nothing up here mattered but his work. If he kept that in his mind, he could make his way through anything he had to do.

Though finding a way out of the talent shows might be worth a bit of his attention.


End file.
